Category Archives: Recreation & Diversion

Perhaps you already know, but in case you don’t: I dabble in astrology. In fact, at one point, I wanted to have an astrology career as a side hustle. (Confession: I still consider it.) I certainly have (woefully underutilized) clairvoyant tendencies and I am also rather committed to identifying and understanding patterns in the world….

#FindDancingMan was successful! Read more about this story here & shimmy away the blues. As we country black folks like to say, God don’t like ugly. What some jerks intended for cruelty is turning into a massive party. I am totally here for it.

BYP100 Responds to the Deaths of Four Black Men Killed by Police Officers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 13, 2014

Contact:
media@byp100.org
773-834-1706

In the past two weeks, police officers have strangled, shot and killed four, unarmed Black men. We honor the lives of Eric Garner, John Crawford, Michael Brown and Ezell Ford; and mourn with those who love them.

As we grieve the loss of our brothers, we also mourn the life of Renisha McBride and grieve over the brutal beatings of Marlene Pinnock and Ersula Ore. Despite the lack of media attention, we know our sisters are also brutalized and murdered at the hands of police officers and vigilantes too.

In the aftermath of yet another series of slaughters, we have been asked to accept the unacceptable expectations of a society that has never loved us. Are we to sit quietly and see our own sisters’ and brothers’ bodies rotting in the streets? Should we be expected to continue to struggle to identify our family members by their socks or jewelry because there are too many bullet holes in their faces?

Regardless of education level, style of dress, romantic partner or circle of friends, Black people in the United States are the targets of a system that supports merciless police officers, willing to spill our innards on street corners. They face no consequences in a ‘criminal injustice’ system. There is no recourse because Black people, especially poor Black people, are all too often seen as sub-human.

Beyond our current frustration and anger, our memory hums as our ancestors call out to us. We will redeem their suffering through collective work for liberation. Stoicism, respectability politics and piecemeal measures of progress are not working. Our tearful pleas and desperate cries have gone unheard.

Since 1619, this white supremacist and patriarchal society has devalued and demonized Black bodies in order to justify the forests of hatred and greed they have planted over every square inch of this land. While police officers, judges, and juries continue to nurture these vile gardens, we choose to create a new path. Patience and properness have their place, and their place is in the past. We reject sanitized portrayals of Black liberators which are used to manipulate us into apathy and inaction.

We recognize that American media, law enforcement and ‘criminal injustice’ systems do not recognize Black people as humans worthy of respect and dignity. Investigations continue to arrive at the same conclusions

Twitter users @KristyT & @tiffani have established a program that helps Detroit water customers bring their accounts current! From their site:
“We match people in Detroit to 1,000 donors for direct water bill help. Spread the word with Twitter hashtag #DetroitWater.”

“Who started this project?

This project came from a discussion on Twitter between @tiffani and @KristyT who wanted to find a way to help people in Detroit with their water issues.

We were skeptical of campaigns collecting money on behalf of Detroit residents and wanted to find a way to verify past due bills and have donations paid directly to Detroit Water and Sewerage Department in order to help Detroit citizens reconnect their water.

A Fight to Survive TBI: The Story of David On the Road to Recover from Traumatic Brain Injury.

August 24, 2012 drastically changed my life. What happened that evening has left David in a vegetative coma and I am desperate to save my son’s life and future. David was pistol whipped, had his jaw broken and then his unconscious body was robbed. Though David regained consciousness, he was incoherent and rushed by ambulance to UMDNJ trauma center in Newark, New Jersey. It was there that he underwent emergency craniotomy surgery to alleviate the pressure from his swelling brain.

He is currently living in a sub-acute unit at a nursing home being fed via a gastric feeding tube. He is no longer entitled to physical therapy because he has shown no signs of progress. This means each day he lies in bed approximately 19 hours and sit in a wheelchair for 5 hours with no physical stimulation aside from being dressed and his diaper changed.

The importance behind physical therapy is that it will help him maintain his muscles and joints; to achieve his goal to attain flexibility, balance and coordination free from pain or suffering, so that he may lead a normal life again; performing all of his daily activities with minimal or no difficulty and without dependency. It can even help with his cardiopulmonary and neurological functions.

With prolonged treatment, it is possible for him to regain a large share, if not all of his mobility and it will improve his overall fitness and health.

David’s survival depends on continued physical and mental stimulation therapies which most insurances are not willing to fund long term. The lack of such treatment poses a direct threat to David’s ability to return to a life that extend beyond sitting in front of a television for hours on end in a nursing home. He deserves better.

His recovery is destined to be a long and arduous one, with no guarantees. But in order for him to have that chance, he needs, aside from a miracle, funds for aggressive physical therapy, a private neurologist and a specially designed vehicle for myself to accommodate his wheel chair.

Please join my family in our fight to get David the medical and physical treatment he needs. The amount we are now trying to raise is just the beginning for David and we could use your support. Thank you!

Homeless Good Samaritan rewarded for returning wallet | www.ajc.com: #challenge: how can we help this man keep a roof over his head beyond thanksgiving day?
thanks to scott stuckey for getting the ball rolling!